A Christian woman mourns the death of a relative who was killed in a suicide bombing at the All Saints church on Sept. 24 in Peshawar, Pakistan. We are reminded of persecuted followers of Christ around the world. In Kenya, Syria, Egypt, Sudan . . . We pray:
Lord God, revealed in the Christ as the One whose foolishness is wiser than men and whose weakness is stronger than men: Help those who suffer for the sake of truth; to find Your strength in their weakness, to see your glory in what is despised, to feel Your presence in what is desolate. Help them understand that in Your gentleness there is power, that in Your grace there is strength, that in Your forgiveness there is life. Relieve them from torture and pain, from strain of the emotions, from temptation, danger, and agony of soul. Use their suffering for the conversion of those who torment them, for the strengthening of those who love them, for the welfare of Your people everywhere. Keep them in Your steadfast love in Christ, our Lord, for His sake. Amen. Taken from The Lutheran Book of Prayer
0 Comments
On your birthday, you wake up like any other day. It takes a few minutes to realize what day it is. You remember the days when you anticipated your birthday - pretty much every birthday till you were 21. You get a plethora of "Happy Birthday!" posts on your Facebook timeline. You get interrogated: "How old are you?" "Do you feel any older?"
As each year passes, I wonder if I should be getting depressed. Is there anything I should regret? Have I wasted any years? If so, can I change them? One of my favorite little books is Henry Nouwen's In the Name of Jesus. He writes, "I should not worry about tomorrow, next week, next year, or the next century . . . God is a God of the present and reveals to those who are willing to listen carefully to the moment in which they live the steps they are to take toward the future." We cannot change past years. We cannot control future years. We can live in the present, being managers of the current day. So that's what I'll do today. I will listen to the Giver of all time. And I will live within the day he has given. Matthew 6:34 The organizational guru, Stephen Covey wrote about the “scarcity mentality” in his best-selling book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: “Most people are deeply scripted in what I call the Scarcity Mentality. They see life as having only so much, as though there were only one pie out there. And if someone were to get a big piece of the pie, it would mean less for everybody else.”
By contrast, he writes of the abundance mentality: “The Abundance Mentality, on the other hand, flows out of a deep inner sense of personal worth and security. It is the paradigm that there is plenty out there and enough to spare for everybody.” What does this mean? On this day, the 11th of September, we remember the year 2001. Wicked men perpetrated a ruthless act. Today the world is focused on a wicked man from Damascus in Syria. A man willing to damn his own people. What shall we do with such a cruel man? How shall we respond to such ruthless brutality? The kings and rulers of the world debate.
There was once another wicked man who traveled to Damascus in Syria. He too would damn his own people. To that man, God inflicted a unilateral air strike. It disabled Saul, brought him to his knees and blinded his eyes. God meant this for more than just punitive action. His judgement had greater ends. Can God turn wickedness for some kind of good? Can a terrorist become a bearer of peace? Mercy confounds us. Only God could do such a strange thing with a wicked man. Wicked men are damned. "Their end will correspond to their deeds." Yet God can deliver the damned. And before the scandal of this thought agitates my inner justice, I must remember that I live by the same mercy that can redeem a wicked man. Acts 9; II Cor. 11:15; II Cor. 12:9 |
JOIN My Tribe
|